News Releases

eLearn 2009 Conference marries Education and Technology

For Release Upon Receipt - June 3, 2009

St. Augustine


In a few days, Trinidad and Tobago will host an international conference marrying technology and education. The elearn2009 conference, which will take place at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain from Monday 8th to Thursday 11th June, aims to demonstrate the important role of education, the corporate sector and governments in bridging the development gap through innovative elearning environments.

Hosted by The University of The West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine Campus, the four-day event is only the second of its kind. The first conference, which took place in March 1999, sought to introduce educational technology to the St. Augustine Campus. Since then, educational technology has evolved globally and at The University of the West Indies, in a variety of ways which have impacted significantly on how teaching and learning can be enhanced and advanced.

This year’s conference will explore issues of professional development, ethics (including plagiarism), equity, literacies for the information and creative age, and innovative elearning. The conference is expected to enhance the teaching and learning capabilities of staff and students through the use of technology. Participants at the conference will also be exposed to several new educational technology products.

The elearn2009 conference will feature keynote presentations from Professor Brian Copeland, Dr. Willie Clarke-Okah and Professor Michael Simonson. Professor Brian Copeland is the Dean of the UWI St. Augustine Faculty of Engineering. In 2007, Professor Copeland and his team at the Faculty of Engineering were awarded the Chaconia Gold in 2007 by the Trinidad and Tobago government for innovative development of the G-pan.

Dr. Willie Clarke-Okah, an Education Specialist aligned with The Commonwealth of Learning in Vancouver, Canada has conducted significant work focusing on higher education and policy development. With an extensive background in international development and education, he has over 32 years of experience dealing with policy and programming in institutions of higher learning.

Professor Michael Simonson is Program Professor, Instructional Technology and Distance Education Nova Southeastern University, Florida. Simonson is currently the editor of the Quarterly Review of Distance Education Distance Learning Magazine and Chief Executive Officer of Technology Research and Evaluation Systems. His work has raised the profile of the industry, and he has received several awards including Outstanding Contributions to Research on Distance Learning 1998 (3rd) and U.S. Distance Learning Association 1995 (1st).

For more information on elearn2009, please visit http://elearn2009.com, or call (868) 662-2002 Ext. 3985, 2611, 2214, or email elearn@sta.uwi.edu . For more UWI news, please visit our official news website at http://sta.uwi.edu/news .

ABOUT UWI

Over the last six decades, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged University with over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest and most longstanding higher education provider in the English-speaking Caribbean, with main campuses in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, and Centres in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Christopher (St Kitts) & Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent & the Grenadines. UWI recently launched its Open Campus, a virtual campus with over 50 physical site locations across the region, serving over 20 countries in the English-speaking Caribbean. UWI is an international university with faculty and students from over 40 countries and collaborative links with over 60 universities around the world. Through its seven Faculties, UWI offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Pure & Applied Sciences, Science and Agriculture, and Social Sciences.

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